One of the big triggers around the board games is this need to be a completionist. I need to own everything for all of these board games, and I feel like my game is less complete if I don’t. That is the mindset, which is not a healthy mindset. But I know there are gamers out there who talk about how they want everything for their board games. If you get into games like CMON projects, Steamforge projects and Fantasy Flight LCG’s, that is a lot.

Now, I think it can be fun to have everything for board games that you love. But the mindset that it needs to be for everything isn’t sustainable. At least, it isn’t for me. I like to try and play a lot of board games. But maybe you have fewer than I do, so getting everything for all the games you own, is more reasonable.

But this article isn’t about whether you should or not. It’s about five games that I go all in on. Which ones make that list and why. And some of them might be the ones that I have in the past which aren’t coming out with more stuff. But still, I went all in on them.

5 Board Games I Go All In On

5. Tainted Grail

Tainted Grail is one of the first ones that comes to my mind because after I beat the campaign, not fully, but almost, I picked up the Monsters of Avalon. I got the minis after the fact, which I just find odd looking back at it. But Tainted Grail is a game that I love, I put it as my #2 game of all time last year. So of course I want it all.

But even then, I think it’s worth to caveat, I get some aesthetic stuff for games. I don’t do it all the time. So even with a game like Tainted Grail, I don’t have all of the aesthetic add-ons for it. They really didn’t interested me.

So why did I go all in on Tainted Grail? I love the game, it’s as simple as that. As the Monsters of Avalon became more readily available, I wanted to get them. Why, because even though I’ve played it once, I believe that I’ll want to come back and play it again. And that is going to make it more immersive again in the future.

4. Aeon’s End

Next up is Aeon’s End and this is another game that is high in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. So I don’t think it’s a shock, in fact, I’ll probably skip over mentioning that on the next ones. But this one I do get most everything for it. I don’t own all the playmats, but then again, I don’t own a lot of playmats in general for games.

But Aeon’s End, whenever a new expansion comes out, I want to get it. Why, because Aeon’s End is pretty easy to play with more content. You take your breach mages, your nemesis, and cards to buy. That is it. Everything is randomized, but it’s randomized so simply.

The area that I went extra on this one is that I have all of the extra cards. Not all the promo cards, so I am not truly a completionist with it. But for the breach mages as its a deck building game, I need to out of the box, create the decks each time. It’s not hard, but they offered packs to let you do that and leave the decks setup for all the mages. I bought that because it makes it just that much easier to grab and play.

3. Dice Throne

Another one is Dice Throne. You knew this one was going to be on the list. And I keep on thinking of game elements that I don’t own anymore. I don’t own Dice Throne Adventure. Technically it’s an expansion, but it more feels like it’s own game at least to me. And I love base Dice Throne so much that I didn’t want that.

Why do I get it all, because it’s all plug and play. I can grab any characters to face off against each other and play. Santa vs Krampus, sure. Santa vs Thor, absolutely. Krampus vs Spider-Man vs a gunslinger, there isn’t a reason not to do it. And because of that mix and match and ease to play, it is high on the list. And whenever they announce a new set, it’s an easy back.

2. Marvel Champions

Then we have Marvel Champions. This one I maybe shouldn’t be getting everything for. I need to play it more, the same is true with my #1 as well. But I don’t for two main reasons. And I fully intend to keep on buying more of it, though very soon I’ll need a third box to store it. And I do want to play through one of the campaigns for it this year.

But it’s again that plug and play nature. I leave the starting decks or characters together. So I just need to put the villain together and I can hop into it. But I get to pick if I want to have Spider-Man face off against Rhino. Or I can also have Spider-Man fight Kang, or Gambit fight Rhino, it’s so easily mix and match it’s great. The other part is that it’s Marvel. I love Marvel, so it’s easy for me to keep on wanting to get it all.

1. Marvel United

Finally is Marvel United. And I think you can guess one reason easily as to why it is on the list. I love Marvel, so I want it all. But it’s a fun game that I need to play more, and it really is easy to get to the table.

So the main reason, and like so many, is that the game is plug and play. The new characters and villains I get, it’s easy to just drop them into the deck and go. I can take Squirrel Girl, Magik, and Thor up against Nimrod. Or I can end up being way more obscure than that, and that’s pretty obscure already. It has everything for it that’s so much fun to get those combinations.

And I think as you get more combinations it makes the game better. The core box is quite simple, but the game itself is always the same core, but becomes more interesting and more challenging as you mix in things and go up against other villains.

Final Thoughts

I try and limit what I go all in on. And sometimes I do a good job of holding firm. Not on the list is Marvel Zombies from CMON. I want it to be there, but as of right now, I’m not buying that giant Galactus. I own everything else, but just that pile of stuff is a lot, but also probably less than one Galactus. So it is a balancing act.

And like I said, for me, I like to do board games in and out of my collection. If I go all in, it’s way harder to have a game leave. Or it’s way harder to bring in five games at once because they all take up room. Even in this case, I have made my Marvel Champions, Marvel United, and Aeon’s End all take up less space than they would if you kept all the boxes.

Are there any board games that you go all in on? And do you feel like your game is lacking something if you don’t go all in?

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